Show T Ise h e va 16 leof C t 3 po f A r a 9 Y by FRED al fri ia mclaughlin ra IM art 11 kl e I 1 author of the blade of 0 copyright by 1 bobbe merrill co service THE STORY at nightfall in the old city of new orleans in the year 1821 loren garde recently an officer dinner under general jackson Is sur our by the appearance of three figures in ancient spanish costume two men and a woman whose beauty enchants him resenting the arrogance of the elder of 0 the two men garde gard fights a duel with him with swords and wounds him afterward he learns his opponent lit in adolfo de bu buenten entes colonel in the spanish army in venezuela lar car Is de fleek ace from sens gens darmes dar meg tak ing ini refuge in a garden where he overhears overhear a plot to overthrow spanish rule in venezuela discovered he lights but to 18 overpowered recovering rises ness to find himself a prisoner on the santa lucrecia Luc spanish ship bearing contraband arms and ad ammunition tor for the vene lucians under Doll bolivar var on board are the conspirators he had overheard tile the lady of his love her brother polito and do de fuentes es an attempt to seize the s hip chip falls CHAPTER 11 II continued 4 she bowed her head and the slim shoulders drooped 1 I know monsieur only that it ton touches clies me here she pressed her hands over her heart 1 I 1 I do not understand what have they done to francisco perez and santini San the soldier we are approaching the shores of venezuela she said and tomorrow as the sun rises she raised her hands and let them fall in a gesture of bope hopelessness 1 I have tried to save them I 1 do not understand adolfo in some things he Is hard hard 11 1 I 1 did not have to ask her what they intended to do with loren garde who as far as they knew had cast his lot with the forces of revolution who had hidden his identity behind the masquerade of insanity I 1 knew what have they done with manuel mnnuel manuel she questioned ali ah manuel he of the dark face and heavy shoulders they have done nothing he Is tree free a good sailor and a brave man though somewhat stupid now I 1 laughed laughed until I 1 saw adeep a deep hurt lu in her eyes and her bei chin begin to tremble then I 1 stopped apologetic perhaps said 1 I my moon madness has never dever quite forsaken me she had bad called manuel stupid what was it francisco had said to me ali ah yes if the captain questions question sour our innocence and even becomes so suspicious as to confine us ur there Is yet manuel and the mixed crew of this ship surely francisco had not done things by halves if courage and brains could win bolivar would never lose v if it helps you to laugh in the shadow of the gallows monsieur garde your moon madness Is a blessed gift she turned away as though to leave me but came back again 1 I 1 I want you to know that I 1 have tried so hard bard to save you but I 1 am helpless I 1 am not even a pawn in this tragedy t they hp y ca call 11 the game of empire may I 1 crave a favor your majesty just one before you yon go surely she raised her fair face questioningly it if there Is aught now while she kept her face upturned to me I 1 studied the smooth forehead the high arch of eyebrow the deep blue of her eyes the quivering lips and the tender curve of cheek and chin may I 1 tell you that you are beautiful ful and may I 1 offer apology for having followed you for having wounded your your for having wounded de fuentes and for that night of madness and terror in new orleans I 1 wonder it if you have imagined me crazy it Is not that Mons monsieur leur I 1 do not understand I 1 think we cannot read america that you should laugh at the gallows seems strange to me and that you should have followed us from new orleans Is Is that the act of a sane man no tour majesty it is not could I 1 tell her of my mad wel ship of that overwhelming love of mine would that have gained anything for either of us to have told her would merely have added to her unhappiness for I 1 had only a short night of life left to me 1 I am going to adolfo she said at last and tell him that the senor americano Amerl cano Is not responsible that the venezuelans Venezuela ns perez and santini San held him captive adolfo will do much for me but not that your majesty for adolfo does not love me ue he has every reason not to love me for I 1 have wounded him 1 I shrill shall try at least I 1 knew she would mould fall fail knew she would not return so I 1 tried every conversational al subterfuge to detain her with no success for she extended a hand band to me failing adios even as I 1 held the slim fingers the sound of a pistol shot came from the deck above us followed by the roar of a commanding olce captain alvarez she cried the voice of captain alvarez what Is it monsieur another shot another yell a shrill medley now and swift padding footsteps our guards disappeared in the gloom of the channel running for the upper tipper deck the air was filled with the menace of an approaching storm as well as 03 that of mutiny Is it elie bhe screamed holding to me what lias has happened senor tell me I 1 laughed shortly the stupid manuel manue Is playing the game according to his orders ordera unless comet something hing la Is lone swiftly and well this ship will he be sery ery soon in the hands bands of those who fight for simon bolivar it is a floating arsenal and la Is therefore a welcome prize for the revolutionists we must act quickly but you senor are in the service 11 not at all I 1 have never served francisco nor bolivar Eoll var only the senorita dulce said she be completing my sentence dulce how prophetic had bad been that name for it was at once a caress and a description will you remain here alien th an in safety while I 1 TI 1 N no L 0 senor I 1 no I 1 I 1 will go with nith you there is polito and I 1 knew she visualized adolfo but she did not call his name so hand in hand we sped along the freight cluttered channel I 1 led her to the compan companion ion ladder and half lifted her up through the quarter deck hatch from which position of vantage we were able to overlook the upper deck it seemed at first deserted but the report of a pistol came from the starboard rail abaft the mainmast a shrill scream followed it and a tall figure lunging toward a slim boy whose body was braced against the bulwark struck the rail bent over it and flopped back again to the deck where he lay grotesquely flattened A puff of smoke wavered above the two tig figures ures mother of G d the senorita breathed Pol itol my brother has killed a man now other figures raced from the foredeck fore deck and the forecastle one of them a heavy unwieldy figure with one bound arm lifted a left hand and fired into the face jofs of a sailor whose groping fingers clutching wildly found the throat of his adversary and the two went down in a scrambling heap adolfo cried the woman at my 4 13 G yr perhaps said 1 I my moon mad ness has never quite forsaken M me e side adolfo Adol fol 1 oh the terror of this hour 1 and the joy I 1 breathed my S soul 0 ul with the hope of freed freedom 0 m again sly my brother she gasped 1 I must mast go to my brother well as aa long as she want to go to 0 adolfo the elements now had begun to add their fury to the storm of human hatred that already possessed the ship I 1 had seen these tropical storms before and I 1 knew that the greatest danger to the santa lucrecia Luc lay not in the contending human forces on her deck but in the power of the approaching tempest I 1 made my way in the rising tumult of the storm to the wheelhouse abich w aich as I 1 had bad suspected was empty my puny efforts to bring the craft around were poor enough yet I 1 knew that riding before the rushing wl wind n d the plunging ship was due for certain disaster gasping I 1 clung tenaciously y to the straining wheel the santa Lue lucrecia pitching prodigiously dived into the body of a mountain of blue green sea and the mizzenmast came down with a note of rent timbers that lifted above the din of the storm it fell aft crushing the wheelhouse but I 1 had dived antof the lie path of its fall and buffeted by the waters had come up short against the low wall of the afterdeck clinging desperately to a stanchion I 1 wondered if there was another soul alive on board tile the ship which was wag now only a plaything of the storm faintly crime the sound of another rending reading crash and I 1 imagined that the foremast had pone gone tor for the laboring vessel after heeling perilously whipped back to an even keel again while I 1 crouched in the protection of the afterdeck after a tor deck the spirit of youth took hold of me spoke to me and the spirit of love also she had come to see me had biad glorified my prison had let me feast my eyes upon the beauty of her face spurred by a sudden resolve to find her to save her or to sink to the depths with her in my arms I 1 left my place of refuge anil and made my way by eccentric stages forward I 1 stumbled over a battened companion and rode the crest of a tumbling wave half the length of the deck my outspread arms came in contact with a rail stanchion and I 1 held to it as the wave passed on in the piled up masses of foam that beat over me I 1 felt the clinging touch of a dress my fingers found a slim arm and I 1 heard a shrill scream that rose above the roar of the tempest the senorita dulce in the semidarkness she recognized me A light of happiness took the place of the terror that had filled her eyes senor she cried the frail voice unconquered lo in the tumult 1 I have been searching I 1 placed one arm around her holding her close are you afraid no site she said smiling bravely ani and smiling fainted well it was better so go holding her I 1 waited for the storm to destroy us I 1 drew an abiding consolation from the thought that if the sea claimed us ns I 1 should have her all my own to the last instant of my life even as I 1 waited thus the great ship stopped suddenly as though it had met an invisible wall the stern lifted skyward and the mainmast sheared clean at the partners fell forward tearing a great gap in the rail now the stern went down again with a sickening lurch and the bow sprit pointed toward the boiling clouds while the santa lucrecia balancing upon a submerged reef that had caught her amidships teetered teet ered like a sparrow on a twig the rain ceased as suddenly as it had come and the wind abated somewhat though it still blew half a gale with the aid of the stanchion and the rail I 1 got to my feet and staggering under the burden of the senorita ita dulce went forward slowly along the plunging deck toward four men who were working at the davits of a starboard boat A tall figure of the four resembled francisco so I 1 bent my steps toward the larboard rail where another group showed in the fading twilight anxious smile was a ghastly thing for one side of his face was waa smeared with blood ile he took his sister in his arms and turned to place her in the boat As he be did so adolfo swung upon me with a clubbed pistol 1 I tried to dodge the blow and failed the barrel of the weapon grazed my head and sent sect me spinning and the tilting deck slipped from under my feet feel stumbling I 1 reached futilely for things to stay my descent rolled went through a wide space in the rail that the falling foremast had made and fell for what seemed to my half dazed senses immeasurable distances the plunge into the raging sea revived roe me instantly I 1 have always been at home in the water so the danger of drowning was remote wind and the waves carried me swiftly landward as the short tropical twilight faded into a starless gloom A floating spar touched me and holding to it for support I 1 waited in the murk a towering mass of darkness passed me passed me silently like a lifeless derelict riding before a storm it passed on and I 1 was left alone in the turbulent sea a prey to doubts to bitter disappointments and vague fears I 1 heard beard at last the sounds of contact of the lashing sea upon the land it was not the booming note of breakers on a reef nor yet the rasping hiss of u waves aves that rode along a sloping beach it was more like the rush of a mighty wind through the forest whereat I 1 wondered even more until a giant wave receding left me stranded in a tree I 1 held on while other waves wave rustled rushed past and over me held until the storm had spent its fury until the water had bad subsided TO BE CONTINUED |